Your Private Information on the Net

Surfing the Internet is just like taking a walk in the park, or just like calling up your friend. You are identifiable in many ways. You are very obviously seen and recognized by your face when you're in the park.. But if your friend has caller ID they can easily identify your number.

The Internet is just the same; no matter if you are legitimately browsing or anything else, you are being traced.

Web sites have the ability to capture pieces of information about their visitors. The site knows the type of browser you're using, and its version number. It knows your operating system. And it knows your IP (Internet Protocol) number.

There are two types of IP numbers -- public and private. A public IP number is unique. Like a telephone number, no one else has it. There are places on the Internet where you can identify the owner of an IP number. Conceivably, your visits to questionable Web sites could come back to haunt you.

The public IP number is actually an address. Public numbers are registered, so that Web servers know where to find them.

You have probably seen these numbers -- their form is 255.255.255. 255. For instance, the IP for This Web site ( www.PrivateBox.co.nz ) is 65.98.68.194.

When you go to the Internet from home, you carry an IP number assigned to you by your Internet service provider. This generally is a public number. If you're using a dial-up modem, you probably are given a different or dynamic number each time you connect to the Net. But if you have broadband, you might have a permanent or static number.

But don't be scared, there are so many numbers that it would be pretty impossible to have a database of everyone on the net, due to dynamic IP addresses, it is virtually impossible to keep all the millions of people on the net in a database.

Individual computers behind the firewall or router are not immediately identifiable. The IP number read by Web sites belongs to the firewall or router. But that doesn't mean the individual computer can't be identified. Company IT Departments can track them. If an illegal act were committed with one of the computers, their identity could be learned through a subpoena.

We have found a great service that gives ‘Free’ anonymous surfing, Primedius. This tool is free for a ‘limited’ time. We have used and tested this product.
We don't guarantee this service, but we believe it provides great anonymous web-surfing!

If you would like to know how to further protect your anonymity and check what information you are disclosing on the internet please go to 'Shields Up!' https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2 where you can check your vulnerability.

Please remember to read our Privacy Policy.